Residents of ‘South O’ fear getting left out of city’s plans

OCEANSIDE  “South O” is an Ocean-side neighborhood that’s historic and distinct, but some residents and business owners there say it hasn’t been getting enough civic attention.

For too long, they say, the emphasis has been on downtown Oceanside, a couple of miles to the north. (In part, that’s because downtown was a redevelopment area that could get more money to help clean up blight.)

But last week, the South Oceanside Community and Merchants Association definitely had the ear of city officials.

Three council members — Gary Felien, Jerry Kern and Esther Sanchez — attended the group’s meeting, as did the city’s economic development manager, Tracey Bohlen; Chamber of Commerce CEO David Nydegger; and two staff members from Visit Oceanside, the chamber’s tourism branch.

There were three Oceanside police officers who talked about why the area’s crime rate has been low, and the main speaker was Planning Commissioner Bob Neal, who spoke about the process that volunteer commissioners follow in trying to get the best development for the city.

That’s all well and good, but several people in the audience of about 40 people said they expected the main focus of the meeting to be the recently resurrected plans for major changes to Coast Highway, the main thoroughfare through South Oceanside.

Among them was resident Mike Bullock, who sat with a copy of the “Coast Highway Vision Plan” that was adopted by the council in 2009 but shelved when the economy tanked.

Bullock said he was disappointed that there wasn’t more discussion about the plan, which could narrow part of the roadway and make the area more pedestrian-friendly.

Others said they were concerned that other cities along North County’s coast seem to be farther along in revamping their portions of the highway, the old U.S. 101.

In South O, she said, “it’s gritty, the streets are dirty, I’m stepping over condoms, cigarettes.” And some businesses don’t maintain their property well, Suchman said.

“We’ve got to have a vision,” Neal replied. “We’ve got to see 50 years down the road.”

“This is a new day, new opportunities, we can refocus” on proposals for the highway, Sanchez said, and both Kern and Felien said such community interest as shown at the meeting will ensure implementation of a good plan for the area.

Greg Sampson, owner of Paradise By the Sea RV Resort for 35 years, said larger recreational vehicles could not negotiate the roundabouts suggested in the previous plan for the highway.

But members of the Oceanside Bicycle Committee said a narrower roadway could be better.

The South O organization was started more than two decades ago, when “we had a few little problems — mostly a hooker problem,” said Richard Fox, one of the founders of the group.

“It’s just a tight-enough organization that the city knows we exist,” Fox, a local tire-shop owner, said at the meeting, and “a loose enough” group that it needn’t bother with something so formal as minutes.